Kevin Bacon couldn’t believe he landed X-Men role

Kevin Bacon was so surprised to be approached to star in the new X-MEN movie, the actor was convinced he had only been offered a role because another star had pulled out.

The Footloose star has been cast as Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class, but Bacon refused to believe he was director Matthew Vaughn’s first-choice to play the mutant villain – especially as his physique is nothing like the bulked up Shaw in the comic books.

He tells WENN, “I don’t know if this says something about my self-esteem but the first thing I thought of when they offered me X-Men was, ‘Who fell out?’

“The only thing I’m a little concerned about is I don’t look anything like the comic book character. He is a gigantic muscle bound guy with a pony tail and dresses like George Washington in his britches. When I saw it I thought, ‘I’m kind of a weird choice to embody him.’ Obviously Matthew was going in another direction.”